Please don't talk to me on the TTC.

I’m on the TTC on a Saturday evening around 7:30 pm. I’m carrying two IKEA bags and wearing what I usually wear and listening to my ipod.

1. Stranger number 1 (high school aged caucasian girl) approaches me as I wait at the DWA on the Sheppard-Yonge Line. I take out my ear buds to hear what she is asking. I answer her many questions about IKEA, how to get there, when it’s open, if the IKEA shuttle bus still runs, how long it would take to walk there. She says thanks and walks away.

2. Stranger number 2 (middle aged caucasian lady.. might have been on some sort of medication) starts talking to me when she notices I have a ring on. I try to answer her many questions about when I got engaged, when the wedding would be, if my fiancee was Canadian (really who ask that?). She goes on to ask me about what is in my IKEA bag and then later tells me that they are tearing down her apartment. She lives in the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood. Incidentally, we are going to be redeveloping this neighbourhood as one of our urban design projects this term so I was pretty interested in what she had to say except she had to get off at Lawrence Station. Before she left, she told me she was divorced.

3. Stranger number 3 and possibly stranger number 4 (middle aged filipino men) approach me as I sit on the Bloor subway line. I’m a bit annoyed because obviously he and his friend are trying to talk to me about randomness and hoping to get lucky! WTF. He asks me all sorts of stupid questions about where Dufferin station is, where Kipling is, what my name is, where I am from, if I was born in Canada, if I’m going home. I think other people on the subway car notice him and him harassing me.. anyways, I decide to get off the subway and wait for the next train.. which on a Saturday evening takes a super long time.

Does something about me or the way I was dressed or the things I was carry scream out Approachable?! Ram says that I’m too nice and I should just ignore people or pretend I’m listening to music, but that is exactly what I was doing, listening to music. I dunno, I was pretty frustrated last night, I mean I’ve never ever gotten off a subway car because of someone harassing me. I’m going to work on my bitchy look. I’ll use it when I’m on the subway from now on! I think you should too..

I wrote this on 7 January 07 when I was feeling .

Comment

  1. ali says,

    you should kick them in their balls, then pull on the emergency trigger or touch the yellow strip and have them arrested for harassment. Also, don’t talk to people, especially not two guys. I have ordered the pepper spray for you.

  2. Shawn says,

    Ram’s right. Also, have I mentioned how much Ali puts out the stereotypical older brother vibe?

    Hi Ali! :)

  3. Liz says,

    i think i should pass along my big purple rape alarm to you even though you might not use it for rape, but it might be scary enough to make them piss their pants. a fun thought ;) hehe

  4. ramanan says,

    I’ll say it again, just spaz out on them. Why do you feel compelled to be polite to creepy old dudes? Seriously. You think people on the train would think you are the one in the wrong?

 
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